Networks are very important and crucial constituents of moderns a day business environment. Failure of networks or its components results in failure of communication between customers and employees that may result in substantial loss of revenue and productivity. There are various elements of the network that may need adequate monitoring to keep them running. These components are WAN; E-mail servers, business applications, LAN infrastructure like switches , routers etc. Internet monitoring tools generally diagnose the problems and report the same in a timely manner. They also provide useful information of the performance of the devices that are being monitored.
Selection of network monitoring tools largely depends on the size of the networks. For small to mid range networks, there are quite a few freeware available that can be downloaded and used for network monitoring. For larger networks, the monitoring tools generally have features for monitoring servers, networks, applications and systems. Some of the high-ended tools even have facilities for asset management and a help desk. A full feature tool diagnoses a problem in the network, reports the problem to the administrator through e-mail and generates an incident in the help desk tools. Monitoring tools provide graphical representations and statistical data of the traffic load on the networks within any specified time periods, when it detects abnormal conditions on the network; it can send e-mail alerts and text messages to the administrator and support staff. Network Security is the next wave which is bound to sweep the software market. Increase in offshore projects and transfer of information across the wire has added fuel to the burning urge to secure the network. As the famous adage goes, the most safest computer is one which has been unplugged from the network(making it almost useless).
Network monitoring is becoming more of a necessity. Interestingly the type of security required across different enterprises depends on the nature of its business. Off late some laws & acts have been defined to identify security breaches, which is a very good move to prevent fraud use/access of information. There are two types of softwares for Network security, one which prevents it and one which does the forensic analysis. The main focus of this article would be the forensics of network security. The toughest job is to secure information from the internal sources. More than securing it, managers need to track the information flow, to identify possible casualties. The tracking of information flow will come in handy in case of legal situations.
• Denial of Service
• Virus attacks
• Unauthorized Access
• Confidentiality breaches
• Destruction of information
• Data manipulation
Key selection criteria for any tools are scalability, cost, ease of use and maintainability. It is advisable to conduct a detailed analysis alert and reporting requirements from the monitoring tool before deciding on the tool to buy. Generally the cost of monitoring tool is based on the number of devices to be monitored however most of tools can be upgraded to monitor larger number of devices as the network grows. Network monitoring tools assists in reducing conditions of outages of the key and business critical elements of network and greatly helps in smooth functioning of internal and external business communications and transactions. |
|
